This invention relates to the field of fruit picking devices, and in particular to such devices having a fruit picker mounted on one end of an elongated pole which serves as a gripping handle. The picker is comprised of a pair of jaws movable relative to one another by a pull device mounted on the handle for severing a fruit stem.
Fruit pickers of this general type originally comprised a wire basket at the end of a long pole. The problem with these devices was that they could not be satisfactorily used to retrieve fruit from the top branches of trees without pulling down on some branches and thereby breaking branches and damaging fruit, with some fruit being caused to drop to the ground.
The more recent developments in this field utilize gripping jaws as a fruit picking device, and simulate the picking action which would be obtained by simply grasping a piece of fruit in one's hand and pulling the fruit off of a tree branch. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,668,848, 2,581,236, and 3,365,870 disclose such picking devices. The disadvantage with such fruit pickers arises from pulling the fruit off of its stem. If the stem is pulled out of the fruit, the fruit tends to spoil. Fruit with the stem attached commands a higher price in the market place.
Fruit pickers are known which employ jaws with one or more cutting edges to sever a piece of fruit from its stem. U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,255,596 and 2,072,558 disclose fruit pickers of this type. U.S. Pat. No. 1,586,867 also discloses a fruit picker having movable jaws mounted on one end of a handling pole. The devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,255,596 issued to H. Gielow and 2,072,558 issued to M. Hunt, as well as the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 1,586,867 issued to E. J. Warner suffer from the disadvantage that the receiving bag or chute is attached to the movable jaw or ring. This type of arrangement interferes with the free movement of the pivotal, severing action of the cutting jaw. It is also difficult with such a jaw and receiving bag assembly to properly position the jaw carrying the receiving bag so as to have the bag in position to properly receive the fruit after it is severed from a branch. U.S. Pat. No. 1,968,414 issued to G. E. Melown does disclose a fruit picker having a stationary bottom jaw with a receiving bag attached to it, and a pivotal upper jaw. However, the actuating mechanism for the pivotal upper jaw is complex, and Melown provides no means for cutting a fruit stem without damaging the fruit. The aforesaid patents to Hunt and Gielow also provide no means for guarding against damage to the fruit by the cutting edge formed on a movable jaw.